Literary Festivals

If you want to move on to more advanced level of literary knowledge you need to connect with and talk to people who have a history of success and a vast amount of experiential knowledge to share with you. This can be on a one-on-one basis or can take the form of hearing an author speak to an audience of fans. The literary world is filled with international events that are an investment of time and money that will pay off in the long term in your writing career.

Here is a sampling of the best literary festivals that are offered around the world, with a selection from a variety of countries.

Argentina

Buenos Aires Book Festival

If you want to attend what has been called “the most important annual literary event in the Spanish speaking world” you will want to book your tickets to attend this event held every year in April. It lasts about 3 weeks, and you can expect to see more than 1 million attendees over those 3 weeks. It is held in the capital of Argentina which has been the most popular tourist locales in the country.

Australia

Sydney Writer’s Festival

Attending this event is something you can consider to be a working vacation. Considered to be Australia’s finest literary event, it has the advantage of being held on Sydney Harbor, so when you get tired of the indoors you have a magnificent venue to escape to relax. The timing is also good, as it is held just before the Australian winter sets is, in May of each year.

England

Hay Festival

2018 marks the 30th anniversary of this literary event. Former President William Clinton has labeled it “The Woodstock of the Mind.” But this is not a single event, though it is the original one. Similar events are held throughout the year in various cities and different countries, such as Peru and Spain. The Hay Festival takes place across the months of May and June, 10 days of each year.

Germany

Berlin International

If you are looking for the specific genre of young adult and children’s literature, Berlin is the place to go. Every September for 11 days, the city celebrates both its culture and contemporary literature during the Berlin International Literary festival. You can expect to interact with a wide variety of people and cultures.

India

ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival

ZEE rhymes with “free” and that is what the world’s largest literary event offers to its annual attendees. Those attendees number more than 800,000 and are there to hear more than 2,000 speakers share their knowledge and experience with you. Held in the Northern Indian city of Jaipur, it is held in January but only lasts 5 days.

Indonesia

Ubud Writers and Readers Festival

We made sure we included a literary event in Southeast Asia, choosing the city of Ubud on the island of Bali as a venue for its reputation of being a center of Southeast Asian history and culture. The program, lasting 4 days in October, sponsors more than 200 speakers and continues to see the number of attendees grow from its last reported 800,000 international visitors.

Turkey

Istanbul Literary Fair

For one week in November, the historic city of Istanbul has been the site of more than 500,000 people gathering for Turkey’s biggest book event. The event has been held since 1982 in the country’s most cultural and popular tourist locations. It is of particular interest to writers who are interested in an Eastern view of the world.

United States

Texas Book Festival

Former First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, started this event held in late October or early November in the capital of Austin, Texas. While there are a number of other worthy literary events in the United States, this one was chosen for its central location and is always full of a wide variety of literary enthusiasts.